Big boost for public transport
Canterbury transport is getting a
$1.7 billion funding boost over the next three years.
But missing from the Government’s big spend announcement is any mention of commuter rail, one of Labour’s pre-election promises from last June.
The amount is part of the $16.9b transport spend outlined in the
2018/21 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP), released yesterday.
Canterbury’s public transport network is one of the big winners from the programme, getting a 24 per cent boost on previous years to
$175m. It will target more frequent and reliable buses and investigate a better public transport network between Christchurch and Timaru.
It lines up with Environment Canterbury’s draft Canterbury Regional Public Transport Plan, which proposes more frequent buses on more routes in an attempt to grow patronage on Christchurch’s under-utilised bus service, in preparation for a forecast
150,000-person population growth over the next 30 years.
Automobile Association Canterbury and West Coast chairman Roy Hughes said there was a trend from authorities to push anyone they could on to public transport and cycleways.
Often the convenience of motorists was being ignored and the strategies being used increased congestion, he said.
A lack of adequate parking and narrowing the roads to limit the movement of cars was having a damaging effect on the overall recovery of central Christchurch, Hughes said. ‘‘People are avoiding coming to town and they will continue to do that as the council continues to do that.’’
Cycleways have also done well, with a $28m allocation, while $7m has been set aside for the controversial An Accessible City central city transport plan. Spending on safety improvements for the region comes to $294m.
Transport consultant Glen Koorey said he was pleased to see a significant investment for public transport to give it a ‘‘good shot in the arm’’ in Christchurch. An efficient system was important for Christchurch going forward, he said. An efficient system was important for Christchurch going forward.
Koorey was also pleased to see a specific focus on road safety in Canterbury. ‘‘We don’t have a safe record and it’s good to see in Christchurch and the greater Canterbury area they are looking to put a fair bit of money into fixing all the hotspots and getting all the injuries and deaths down.’’
Transport Minister Phil Twyford said the investment would improve safety, build resilience and ensure tourism continued to flourish in the region. He said the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) had worked closely with local government to make sure the investments went to the areas they were most needed and delivered the best results for the most people.
Christchurchbased Green MP Eugenie Sage said Christchurch and Timaru’s public transport was ‘‘long overdue for more investment’’ after a major decline in patronage post-quake. ‘‘We’ve seen public transport become hugely popular in Auckland on the back of big changes and improvements. That needs to be replicated in Canterbury. Investigating how to further improve public transport can help grow the network and patronage.’’
The NLTP is an outline of what the NZTA plans to spend on landbased projects in the next three years, and is released at three-year intervals. It follows the release of the Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport in June, which reflected the Government’s priorities in the area. This year’s GPS saw a priority shift away from highways and towards road safety and rapid rail.
Further south, an investigation of a new commuter ferry service in Queenstown will be funded.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said he was not aware on any specific plans for a governmentfunded ferry service in Queenstown but a resource consent application was recently been made by private company KJet to operate a commuter ferry service from Frankton to Queenstown via the Kawarau River and Lake Wakatipu.
‘‘It would be great to use that big, free public highway that never needs to be maintained,’’ Boult said. ‘‘If Government is encouraging it – that’s a great thing and I applaud them for it.’’
Six Christchurch bus routes, once on the chopping block, will live on in a new guise, authorities have confirmed.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) announced the six worst performing routes would be cut to plug a $4 million funding shortfall in February but public outcry led the regional council to come up with a compromise.
From October 29, the adjusted routes will be used. The changes are:
Route 107 from Styx Mill to Northlands will stay but will run hourly with reduced overall hours. The existing Route 28 will be extended into Casebrook to replace the 108. Routes 135 and 150 will be combined as a new service for Prestons, the new QEII facility and the new schools being developed in the area. The new service will not go to New Brighton as the old 135 did. A section of Route 145 will run from Westmorland to Barrington Mall as before, but will then be extended into the CBD with the section between St Martins and Eastgate discontinued. It has also been extended at the Westmorland end. Route 28 will run three trips morning and night to Rapaki to replace Route 535. A direct link from Rapaki to Ferrymead or Eastgate will no longer be offered. A new route, the 155, will run between Lyttelton and Eastgate via Ferrymead, The Tannery, and Woolston. The shopper service will run three times a day Monday to Friday, on a trial basis for 12 months.
ECan also plans to increase fare revenue across the network by 2.5 per cent a year for the next three years – a 5 cent to 15 cent increase on current fares. The first increase came into effect in July.
The route changes, increased fares, increases in NZ Transport Agency grants and an increase to targeted rates will cover the previous $4m public transport funding shortfall.
Public transport senior manager Stewart Gibbon said the introduction of the 155 ‘‘shopper’’ service meant those in the southeast suburbs would still have an option to travel by bus to do their shopping, banking, visit the library, and get to medical appointments.
He understood the changes ‘‘may not equal the current service’’, but was pleased to continue to provide the services to the community while addressing funding challenges.
Gibbon said the negotiations with bus operators over the new routes had been successfully completed last week.
The six adjusted routes are the worst performing in the city, accounting for just 2.3 per cent of all bus travel between them (about 307,000 annual passenger movements). ECan’s solution is to combine some routes and adjust the route and timing of others.
The initial proposal to cut the routes was revealed in Environment Canterbury’s (ECan) draft 10-year plan in February, which received 765 public submissions. More than 560 submissions related to the bus routes, with just 48 supporting the proposed cuts.